What pandemic era changes has the Jewish community retained? Have we as a community and as individuals chosen wisely?  Did we meet the challenge or fail to rise to the it? Rabbis Daniel Korobkin and Larry Rothwachs offer honest, deeply reflective insights on the long-term spiritual and cultural aftershocks of COVID in the Jewish community—from synagogue shifts and spiritual disconnection to the rise and fall of simplified celebrations. A must-read for anyone grappling with how COVID reshaped our values, our rituals, and our communal life—for better and for worse.

Five years after COVID-19 upended Jewish education, Rabbis Joshua Kahn and Leonard Matanky reflect on the lasting impact of the pandemic. From reshaping school values and prioritizing teen mental health, to redefining instruction and faculty culture, our schools were both tested and transformed. With resilience, reflection, and renewed purpose, these pieces explore how crisis became catalyst—offering insight, inspiration, and a vision for a stronger, more deliberate educational future.

Join us for the "COVID+5" series, where we explore the lasting impact of the pandemic on Jewish education, communal life, and spirituality. Through the insights and reflections of a diverse group of authors discover how COVID reshaped our synagogues, our communal celebrations, our Yeshiva high school and elementary schools, and our relationship with God and each other, including those suffering with infertility, while sparking opportunities for growth and empathy. Yehuda Halpert introduces the series….

What brought about the moment of redemption from Egypt? Exodus 12 has the Israelites hastily preparing to leave—the display of their eagerness seemingly the necessary prerequisite for their freedom—while God passes-over above, busy with the slaying of Egyptian firstborn sons. The midrash, however, suggests that God, too, was acting with haste, eager to bring about the redemption. Ilana Goldstein Saks shows how Rashi’s interpretation offers a creative reworking of the midrash which both incorporates the midrash and remains true to the meaning of the biblical text, and gets to the very heart of the meaning of the holiday of Passover.